It takes more than a year of preparation, a lot of time and money to run the course.

"It isn't easy to get into the New York Marathon," said Urbandale runner Carrie VanQuatham. "We felt that showing up to run and being part of that and celebrating the spirit and the excitement of the New York Marathon was the right thing to do."

However, on Friday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave in to mounting pressure and canceled the race.

"Half of the people were very angry that they were even considering having it in light of this, and then the other half who are here are now like, 'Well, now you're canceling it?'" VanQuatham said.

Though the record won't be official, the Iowa runners still plan to make the trip count.

"We're going to look up the historical route of the New York Marathon, and we decided we're going to run 26.2 miles," VanQuatham said.

While they're in New York, the runners plan to lend a hand to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

"Having lived through the floods of Iowa, we recognize what a challenge that is," VanQuatham said. "I mean, people are definitely affected (in New York), and it isn't a good feeling, and people definitely need to support them."

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